Epon and Endo: The Forging House Behind Other Names
Most golfers have never heard of the company that may have forged the heads of clubs they have played. Endo Manufacturing, of Tsubame in Niigata Prefecture, is a metalworking firm that learned to forge golf heads for other makers, and then, in 1977, created a brand of its own to show what it could do. The brand is Epon. This chapter of The Atlas of Japanese Golf follows the thread from sewing-machine needles to some of the most sought-after irons in Japan.
A town of metalworkers
J Stories describes Tsubame as a traditional centre of metalworking. Endo began there in 1950. One account says it made screwdrivers and sewing-machine needles; another, a 2018 profile, says its founder Eimatsu Endo made steel parts for machines, housewares and automobiles. The two descriptions agree that the first products were small and exact, which is the best possible grounding for a forge.
- The late 1960s and 1970s. Japanese golf makers asked Endo to forge their heads, and it became a go-to forging house for several of them.
- 1977. Endo created Epon, in the words of the 2018 profile, to showcase what it could do without cost or time constraints.
- 2020. Epon signed its first sponsorship with a professional golfer, Naoto Nakanishi.
The wider business
Golf is one trade among several for Endo. It also makes parts for car and aircraft engines, ultrathin seamless metal pipes for copiers and printers, and, since 2009, orthopaedic implants such as artificial hips and knees. For a collector, that breadth is context for a reasonable question: why should a metalworking company make good golf heads? The likely answer is habit, since a firm that forges aircraft-engine parts and implants is used to tolerances that golf alone seldom demands. That is an inference, not a finding.
How an Epon head is made
Epon says that it forges complex computer-designed shapes in one piece, working from its own 3D tooling. It uses higher-grade steel and higher-tonnage presses, which means fewer strikes between the billet and the raw head. By Epon’s own account, its raw heads arrive within five or six grams of final weight, against ten to fourteen grams for most makers; the company argues that this gives a tighter grain structure and reduces the weight and boring compensations needed later. Those are the maker’s claims, and they have not been independently tested here. What can be said is that the labour is considerable: a 2021 profile reports about a week of grinding and filing for one iron head, and more than a month to make a complete master model, and that its master craftsmen adjust designs to a client’s request, such as making a face smaller.
The forge behind other names
Endo supplies clubheads to sports brands worldwide, though the company does not name them. A 2018 profile records that it forged Mizuno’s JPX 800 AD and JPX 825 irons, which are among the few Mizuno forged irons made outside the Chuo factory, because Mizuno lacked the in-house capacity for an undercut-cavity forged iron; see Mizuno and the Chuo Forge. A 2009 magazine feature went further and called Endo the largest forging house in the world, adding that Titleist and Nike had used it. That claim was made without attribution, and it should be read as one account.
The Epon range
Epon’s catalogue at the time of the 2018 profile gives a sense of its approach:
- Irons: the 705 (super game-improvement), 505, 303 (a players’ cavity-back), the AF-Tour MB II (muscle-back) and the 905 utility iron.
- Wedges: Tour and Tour Spin models, in even lofts from 48 to 60 degrees.
- Metalwoods and hybrids: the AF-205 fairway wood, the AF-105 and 155i drivers and the 905 hybrid.
- Earlier irons: the AF-301, 501 and 701, dated 2010 in the profile. The 2009 feature singled out the AF-501 and 502 for irons that look like blades from above but carry an undercut in the long irons for forgiveness.
Why Epon is scarce
The profile reported that Epon’s fitter and retail partners were unlikely to exceed 135 worldwide. It gave no production figures and no prices, saying only that Epon irons cost somewhat more than mass-produced models from the same facilities. A small partner network and a head that takes weeks to prepare are plausible reasons why Epon is found in fittings and rarely on a shelf.
- What to check. The model and serial markings, the grind and the sole, the original shafts and their bands, and any record of the fitting.
- What not to assume. A head forged by Endo for another brand is not an Epon, and an Epon is not a Mizuno. The stamp tells you which.
Read next: Miura Golf: A Himeji Family Forge, the family forge that makes its own name, and Japanese Golf Brands Compared: Forging, Faces and Feel.
In the archive
- Browse the Epon room and the Japanese Golf shelf.
Continue reading
- The Atlas of Japanese Golf: Makers, Methods and Why the World Collects Them
- Why Japan Became Golf's Great Workshop
- Mizuno and the Chuo Forge: Feel as Engineering
- Miura Golf: A Himeji Family Forge
- Honma Golf: Stars, Gold and the Sakata Workshop
- XXIO, PRGR and Yonex: Clubs Built for Ease and Speed
- Bridgestone, Srixon and Cleveland: Japan on Tour
- Directory of Japanese Golf Brands
- Buying Golf Equipment from Japan
- All collector guides
After a particular Epon head, set or fitting spec? Our Hunting Salon™ searches across Japan's private collector circles on your behalf.
Index terms: epon golf history · endo manufacturing tsubame niigata · epon forged irons · epon af-tour mb · epon 1977 · endo forging golf heads · who forges golf clubs in japan · japanese golf forging house
References
Dates and figures in this chapter were checked against these pages. Where accounts differ, the text says so.